Business memo 11/17/03

Local businesses win SIU-Edwardsville awards

Lutesville Motor Company won the 2003 Mississippi Valley Family Business of the Year Award from Southern Illinois University-Edwardsville School of Business.

The ceremony was held Nov. 7. At the same event, Ford and Sons Funeral Home of Cape Girardeau was recognized as a finalist for the award.

Lutesville Motor Company was started by Roy B. Underwood, who died in 1957. The family rallied to save the business, with Roy's wife, Margie, becoming one of the first female Ford dealers in the country. She turned the business over to her daughter and son, Mary Thomas and Rick Underwood, in 1972, and the brother and sister still own the dealership.

Ford-Young Funeral Home opened in 1949. When Walter J. Ford bought into the business in 1953 and the Fords took over the Youngs' portion, the name was changed. Now a third generation of Fords own and manage the business, which employs 17 people full- and part-time.

Local restaurants to feature 1803 cuisine

Several restaurants in Old Town Cape will feature a "Taste of Lewis and Clark" Nov. 21 through 23 to help commemorate the 200th anniversary of Lewis and Clark's visit to Cape Girardeau.

The participating restaurants are Nick's Sports Pub, Celebrations, Broussard's, Buckner Brewing Company, Café Azu, Mollie's Café and Bar, and Bella Italia. Some of the restaurants selected recipes from "The Food Journal of Lewis and Clark, Recipes for an Expedition" by Mary Gunderson.

Dishes include brandied spiced peaches, white catfish with bacon, roasted buffalo and roasted salmon, venison medallions with polenta and wild mushrooms, bison rib eyes and Cornish hens.

-- From staff reports